I was not that lucky with my Catholic leaders - 2-2-2 and 0-2-2 meant that I was likely to suffer from movement delays. My only hope was to quickly break the siege of Krems - but Protestants have started to group together their forces, so my men had to fall back to Wien...

The spring and summer were wasted, as Catholics kept trying to chase the Protestants. Aside from wiping out a single cavalry unit near Budweiss, it was a strategic loss, as my army now had to double-back to Wien for supplies. Luckily, Spanish have shown up to help...

Since Spanish general Marradas is the best leader I have (5-4-2), he is given the best troops available - and he proves his worth defeating Mansfield just west of Wien. More Protestant troops show up - it is shaping up to be a long campaign...

Traffic penalty is a must I think in this game for less formulaic more disorganized movement.
AI can have problems crossing large rivers and returning back. Placing 2 cavalry detachments in Budweiss and Ilz can lock movement with enough ZOC when Bohemians decides to move Linz.
Good game, I'm following.

Baris wrote:Traffic penalty is a must I think in this game for less formulaic more disorganized movement. AI can have problems crossing large rivers and returning back. Placing 2 cavalry detachments in Budweiss and Ilz can lock movement with enough ZOC when Bohemians decides to move Linz. Good game, I'm following.

Hm, I thought I set the traffic penalty to the max. I will double-check it tonight. And thanks.

Ebbingford wrote:It might also be worth putting the attrition on the middle setting to help the AI. I don't think it's fair to play against the AI with it on the setting you've got it.

That's what the extra difficulty level is for, to get them extra replacements. I've played with settings like these for a while in other ageod games, and ai does quite well. Once you get to colonel level, they seem to rebound almost instantly

Now that there are 4 separate nations fighting for defense of Catholicism, and each nations further has multiple units, it can be quite confusing as to which ones are best. With only 2 decent generals I can trust to wage war (5-5-2 Spanish Marradas and a newly arrived 5-2-4 Bavarian colonel), I am likely to be limited only to 12 units in the field.

Invigorated by the presence of Bavarian troops, Catholics engage in a 2-prong cavalry assault. The first group takes Budweiss as Protestants fall back, however we encounter very strong opposition at Brunn. I am considering grouping all cavalry units under the Bavarian colonel, as well as abandoning the fruitless chase of Protestants just south of Wien: they keep avoiding battles, and Marradas' skills are wasted there.

As winter rages on, supplying troops becomes a nightmare. The cavalry corps has to fall back all the way to Wien, but not fast enough - a 79-hit combo wipes over half of it in a single turn. I am regretting purchasing all those extra units early in the campaign - Croatians, artillery - as there is not enough money to keep them reinforced. Furthermore, I am facing a tough call: either keep the Catholic league army at full strength, or the Spaniards. I can't do both - and that's with most troops holding still, safely tucked inside city walls. Catholic league (Bavarians) for that matter - aside from cavalry - are yet to do any offensive warfare.

Ebbingford wrote:It might also be worth putting the attrition on the middle setting to help the AI. I don't think it's fair to play against the AI with it on the setting you've got it.

I've been thinking about what you said, as I watched an entire Protestant army starve to death just south of Wien. You're right, AI could use help, but I'm going to provide it in another way, as I've tested the historical attrition setting before, and it seemed ok. Instead I'm going to restart, bumping the following settings in favor of AI:

- difficulty setting to colonel (+ reinforcements, + speed)
- no randomization of leaders (whereas I would leave inept generals at hope, I suspect AI would try to use them anyway)
- +to activation roll

I'm also delaying the commitment to the medium level to mimic the era, when armies would just stare at each other. Wish me luck

This time I split my main army, as both leaders seemed to be capable of movement - 3-2-2 for both Bucquoy and Dampierre. Bucquoy took most infantry and all cavalry straight towards Krems; Dampierre followed with slower artillery and supplies.

I still failed at least one activation check, and it took Bucquoy 2 turns to reach Krems rather than 1. Once he got there, Protestants attacked, and my forces barely prevailed. Soon after the battle snow fell all around, and with harsh weather comes attrition...

Persistence definitely has its merits. Protestants lose two more battles, but they refuse to yield. Finally they win one - and unlike Protestant armies that just won't move, my troops fall right back South. From there, it's a long, long journey back to Wien for supplies. And courtesy of surprise March snow and high traffic penalties, it does indeed take almost half a year for my troops to regroup. Of course, Protestants are right on their heels...

Lynxyonok wrote:I've been thinking about what you said, as I watched an entire Protestant army starve to death just south of Wien. You're right, AI could use help, but I'm going to provide it in another way, as I've tested the historical attrition setting before, and it seemed ok. Instead I'm going to restart, bumping the following settings in favor of AI:

- difficulty setting to colonel (+ reinforcements, + speed)- no randomization of leaders (whereas I would leave inept generals at hope, I suspect AI would try to use them anyway)- +to activation roll

I'm also delaying the commitment to the medium level to mimic the era, when armies would just stare at each other. Wish me luck

To be honest this is likely not to help much : the problem for the AI is that is doesn't know how to deal with historical attrition at all so even with lots of help, its troops will end up withering away every winter, making the game unplayable fairly quickly. I would strongly recommend that the setting be used only for PBEM.

veji1 wrote:To be honest this is likely not to help much : the problem for the AI is that is doesn't know how to deal with historical attrition at all so even with lots of help, its troops will end up withering away every winter, making the game unplayable fairly quickly. I would strongly recommend that the setting be used only for PBEM.

Very well, I will trust you. The setting is going to be changed for historical attrition for player only. All other settings will remain.